Social Media for Customer Service

August 20th, 2010

Personally, one of the most motivating panels at the Social Fresh Charlotte conference this past Monday was Social Media for Customer Service.

The panel was stacked with:

• Shawn McPike, AT&T
• Kevin Cole, Bank of America
• Sean Doherty, Sprint
• Diana Plazas, Doubletree Hotels
• Bert Dumars, Newell Rubbermaid (as moderator)

I was thrilled to get a chance to hear from Kevin Cole, because I have often pulled up the @BofA_Help twitter account in front of clients to show them an example of a company that’s doing it right when it comes to customer service via social media.

Why do I use them as an example?

• They identify themselves on the left-hand side of their twitter background. This humanizes the correspondence and also shows that they’re willing to be held accountable
• They are more focused on helping customers than driving up follower count
• They set expectations clearly. Within their twitter bio, they clearly present the hours that you can reach them on Twitter: 8-8 ET Mon-Fri and 9-1 ET on Sat.
• They take safety precautions (see their “Important Notices” in their Twitter background)
• They respond quickly and respectfully, and they actually solve problems

What was so great about hearing this panel of speakers wasn’t that I learned a ton of new information, but that I got validation about what I’m doing for my clients.

The questions that I heard audience members direct to the panelists were the same questions that I often hear from clients and potential clients. It was great hearing that the panelists answered them the same way that I do. It was validating to know that I’m on the same page as the people I look to as an example.

It was really great to hear Diana Plazas of Doubletree Hotels as well, because she has experience dealing with customer service at a corporate level for a company that has franchises all over the place. I have a lot of clients ask me about how to handle this, so it was great to hear her tackle the questions like:

“How do you train branch managers / educate employees at the local level?”

I did get a chance to sit with her for a few moments after her presentation. Very smart, very friendly. Diana – I really appreciate that you took the time to speak with me and let me pick your brain a bit.

Great job to all of the panelists! Keep doing what you’re doing – I love the impact you’re making on customer service, company accountability and social media as a business tool.

What other great examples do you recommend looking at for customer service through social media?

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Scott Stratten (@unmarketing)’s insights via @Phonebooth at Social Fresh

August 19th, 2010

Scott Stratten, (a.k.a. @unmarketing) is a real human being, not a bot. I checked!

Read the rest of this entry “

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Social Fresh Conference: The value of live tweeting

August 18th, 2010

Monday’s social media event, Social Fresh Charlotte (a.k.a. #SoFresh) made me think about how the standard procedures for attending a conference have shifted. How many people used the notepads provided? Maybe one. Maybe. Instead, the room was a sea of laptops, iPads and mobile phones.

The New Protocol for Conferences:

Live tweeting with a hashtag. Sure, that’s not news to most of us social media geeks, but it’s worth noting that it really is a powerful way to increase the value of your experience at a conference and also increase the value that you provide to your followers.

First of all, let me pass along a great recommendation of a tool to help you live tweet & follow an event hashtag. It’s called TweetChat, which Meg Crawford (@Postgrad) introduced me to during the first panel discussion. TweetChat follows the hashtag in realtime and allows you to tweet directly from there and automatically appends the hashtag for you. Simple, clean tool.

Following the hashtag conversation on Twitter during a conference is a great way to join a conversation with other people sharing an experience with you. You can make new connections this way and then follow up with an in-person introduction at some point during the conference.

You can also use it as a space to keep up with the multitude of things going on at any given time during a conference. Sure, during the keynote many people will be tweeting the same information. However, for most of the day there were two different presentations running simultaneously. So, following the hashtag let me be in two places at once. I could attend one presentation while still catching the “nuggets” from the other.

You can also use this as a place to take notes for yourself. You’ll be able to refer back later for more research or follow-up. Additionally, if it’s information that you found valuable, chances are that your followers will, too. So, while you’re taking notes for yourself, you’re sharing your experience and new expertise with your followers who couldn’t attend the event themselves. This makes you an information hub / resource center. You want to be the person able to provide the information others seek.

And, as a secondary benefit, you can expect a jump in your follower count. This tends to happen during conferences if you take advantage of the networking opportunities they provide.

(This data tracking my twitter follower growth is thanks to the Argyle Social tool).

There were a few more takeaways that I think each deserve their own blog post, so you’ll find them added here over the next few days. Here’s what you can expect:

• Phonebooth phonecall with Scott Stratten (@unmarketing)
• Validation! The Social Media for Customer Service panel
• The importance of mobile strategies and apps
• Quotable Quotes from the conference
• Tools to check out

And for more recap info from the conference, I offer up Lisa Sullivan’s blog post, Media Two Gets Fresh at Social Fresh Charlotte.

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How Social Media Affects Search Engine Marketing

June 21st, 2010

This is a follow-up from Michael Hubbard’s blog post “Triangle AMA Recap | Search Without Social is Just Wrong.” Definitely worth reading before you dive into this one – gives a little background.

Social media is like your nagging younger sibling. You may dislike them, pretend that they’re not related to you and even wish they’d disappear off the face of the earth. But guess what?

That younger sibling (as social media is to search) is:

• here to stay
• a reflection of you
• linked to you (especially in others’ eyes)
• RELATED TO YOU

So, since you’re so closely related, and since you so greatly impact one another’s lives, why not learn to leverage one another’s strengths?

Here are just a few of the ways that we believe social media impacts search engine marketing. These are based on real data that we have collected while managing search and social media accounts for clients, as well as for Media Two (small biz, B2B) itself:

1. Content is king, & social media creates content

Michael Hubbard already addressed this in his Triangle AMA recap post, so I’ll just make a few points to add to that. The content that you share on your blog, in your videos, via tweets, etc. is all indexed by search engines, which means that it appears in search results. Use your social media accounts to create timely content that is highly relevant in search results. A perfect example came up today with a client of ours. The client noticed that the most searched term on their website this week was “silly bandz,” yet they had no content on their website to support that audience need. Updating the website, building a new landing page, etc. are all great ways to create content, but not at all timely or cost effective when it comes to keeping up with trends. The best way to get content on the site and FAST is to write a blog post. This content will get indexed right away, appear in search results (both within your site and on engines) and keep your audience members on your page by providing the content they are looking for.

2. Commenting

Commenting on other blogs is a way to establish thought leadership, be part of a conversation and attract attention (and links back) to your site. Further, when you allow other people to post comments to your blog, they become more engaged, develop a sense of community and give you valuable feedback. What’s better – it’s all a part of the content on your page that gets indexed in a search.

3. Popularity Points

Google page rank and Google first page results are a popularity contest. At a Raleigh SEO meetup I heard it phrased particularly well one time – Remember that Google is a business selling a product, and that product is relevant search results. People go to Google to find information that they don’t already know exactly where to find. Google is only a valuable tool (and therefore a sustainable business) if it’s providing good results. So, to ensure that it’s not feeding you lame pages, Google has an algorithm to test the strength of the sites it indexes. What I’m calling “popularity points” are ways to prove to Google that your site is engaging to readers and, therefore, popular. Just a few indicators of popularity include number of comments, number of unique visitors, time on site, pageviews and just overall traffic. Social media can drive these kinds of interactions, boosting the value of your site in the eyes of Google.

4. Thought Leadership

A key goal for many businesses on social media is to establish thought leadership. This is especially true of B2B’s (business-to-business). I often hear the argument that social media is just for B2C. Not true. Not true at all. In any purchasing decision, it’s really about P2P (person-to-person). Before you make the sell, the buyer must trust you and your brand. This means establishing a relationship and providing valuable information that shows your understanding of the product or field. Social media tools and the social media environment provide businesses with channels through which to show off their knowledge. Establish thought leadership in your space. Why does this affect search? Because people who don’t know your brand name, don’t know to search on it. They will, however, search for information within your realm of expertise. If you are the one answering all their questions, don’t you think they’re morel likely to do business with you when the time comes?

5. Own your page 1 results

Michael addressed this point as well, but one of the most prominent ways in which social media affects search is in brand name ownership. If someone searches your brand name, how many of the results are yours?

1. Your paid link
2. Your organic website listing
3. Your blog
4. Your Twitter account
5. Your Facebook page
6. Your LinkedIn account
7. Your YouTube account
8. and so on and so forth…

Besides that, tweets themselves are indexed in real-time search on most of the engines, which means that your tweets can appear in the results for any keywords you include in your messaging.

6. Drive Traffic

Tweets are not just 140 characters. They are often just the teasers to lead you to more information. An effective tweet will lure you in for more. You’ll want to follow the account and click on the links for more information. Use shortened links to send traffic to your website, blog, videos, etc. Send people to other channels where they can continue to engage with you – even if they need more than 140 characters to express it.

7. Keep your content fresh

Search engines want to return results that are relevant, timely and up-to-date. Blogging is a great way to keep fresh content on your site without a website refresh. Stale content might be hurting your search results.

There is so much more I’d like to address here, but this isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list of all the reasons why social media is part of the marketing mix. This is simply to make the correlation between social media and search engine marketing. For more on what we mean by “marketing mix,” see:

• Ellie Johnson’s blog post Why Social Needs Search
• Michael Hubbard’s blog post Search vs. Display: Cause & Effect Studies?
• Seth Hargrave’s blog post Search + PR = Pretty Cool Strategy

I should note here, as a follow up to the AMA luncheon discussion, that Facebook Ads are not social media. They are display ads that are placed on a social media site. It’s the difference between paid media and earned media.

Please, please, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you agree with me? Disagree? Have you seen social media impact your search results?

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Takeaways: Triangle AMA Social Media Boot Camp

June 10th, 2010

Today’s Triangle AMA’s Social Media Boot Camp was ripe with great speakers and information. While I won’t list all of it here, I will give you the top two points that come to my mind as takeaways from today’s event.

1. Always be learning. Expert/guru? Whatever. There’s always more to learn, especially in such a rapidly-changing environment. Jim Hazen humbly made this point by introducing himself as a learner (although he knows a whole-heck-of-a-lot).
2. There is such a tremendous amount of activity that falls in to the social media category. There’s room to have a niche specialty within the social media world. For instance, Gregory Ng is very knowledgeable about YouTube and video, Angela Connor about community building and Wayne Sutton about location-based services (be careful! Location-based marketing is NOT the same thing as social-media marketing!)

From my personal notes from the event, these are some nuggets I’m walking away with and sites/tools that I want to take either a closer look at or visit for the first time:

• Free monitoring tools: SocialMention, IceRocket & Trendpedia. I have not visited the 2nd two, but the 1st one I tested about a year ago. I wasn’t impressed, so I haven’t been back. Fortunately, I have had the privilege to use mostly paid tools since. However, it’s worth another look, since tools are improving so rapidly, and since people are frequently asking for advice on where to begin monitoring if they don’t have the budget for an agency or paid tool. I’ll do a bit of researching, testing, comparing and let you know what I think. Credit to speaker Nathan Gilliatt.
• Learn to Triage: Use a FireFox plugin called SearchStatus to tell you PageRank, Alexa & Compete — this will help you to determine which people you absolutely must respond to and which can be ignored. Credit to speaker Cord Silverstein.
• ConvoTrack is a free plugin that tells you who has blogged, tweeted, etc. about the URL you’re looking at. Credit to speaker Cord Silverstein.
• Research communities on Boardtracker & Boardreader. Credit to speaker Angela Connor.
• Search Omgilli.com
• Use the word “video” in your YouTube video title. Surprisingly enough, people searching within YouTube search for: “video of….” Credit to speaker Gregory Ng.
• Adding an annotation that says “Subscribe to my channel” at the end of your YouTube video can significantly increase your subscriptions – that CTA (call to action) really impacts user behavior! Credit to speaker Gregory Ng.
• Even though YouTube won’t admit it, the name of your video file actually helps your rankings — even though the audience doesn’t see it. -Greg Ng
• Tentpole programming – What are current events? Do a video based around that event. -Greg Ng
• Try Twitalyzer -Jim Hazen

To take a peak at the slideshows from the presenters, visit: Slideshare.com/TriangleAMA.

Thank you to the Triangle AMA for organizing this event. As a warning to readers – this recap is by no means all-inclusive. These are just a few things that are top-of-mind for me personally. There were many great points made during the event that I did not capture here.  If you are looking to see more of the conversation from today, follow the hashtag: #SMBC2010.

Please leave comment & tell me what YOUR takeaways were.

UPDATE:

Some links to some other great recaps & liveblogs from the event:

• Social Media Boot Camp: 9 Experts Share the Latest Tips and Trends, via the Triangle AMA by Karl Sakas
• Live Blog: Triangle AMA Social Media Bootcamp 2010 by Angela Connor
• Social Media Training Camp Recaps and Videos from Triangle AMA blog

I’m sure there are many more already as well as many more to come. Leave a comment here for me so I can add those in!

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